Lessons Learned
by TripGirl05
Summary: Rating just there, chapters rated individually. A random collection of independent fics all in the style of Cowboy Bebop's "Toys in the Attic." A better explanation on SummaryDisclaimer page. Lesson One: Yeah- Guys Notice. Enterprise’s sweet, innoc
1. Summary and Disclaimer

Nooooot Chapter One. Disclaimer stuff... and... stuff....

Title: Lessons Learned.

Summary: ...Okay. Going about this fic slightly different than I normally do.... Each chapter is its own individual story, so one may be extremely serious and depressing, and the next may be humorous. The stories are only tied together by one little factor- besides that they are all limited to the perspective of ONE character- they are set up in the same way as the Cowboy Bebop episode "Toys in the Attic," though I'm pretty sure this fic will make much more sense than that whole episode did. Rather than chapters, it will be divided up by "Lessons," lessons which our favorite Enterprise crew set out to prove throughout their mini stories. If that didn't make any sense, you'll understand when you start reading. I just didn't want to take credit for such an innovation.

Spoilers: Will be posted up at the top of every chapter.

Disclaimer: The whole Enterprise world belongs to Paramount and the writers and not me, obviously, and the idea for this came from Cowboy Bebop, so the Lesson thing is theirs. The idea to throw these things together and the creativity that abounds (shrug) and... yeah... the other stuff you read is mine. Yay. ...Unless I say otherwise.


	2. Lesson One: Yeah Guys Notice

Hiya! Waves Okay, I know I should be writing "Trustworthy," or doing homework, but I said from the beginning of "Trustworthy" that I wanted to do a random, humorous story of some kind. And here it is.

I don't know why I thought of this one first, but I enjoyed it far too much for my own good. I just love Hoshi and I think we need to see some of her thoughts like this. Or maybe not, but that's what fanfiction is for.

This chapter's rating: PG? PG-13? I dunno.

Lesson One:

Yeah- Guys Notice

Well... I'll get to THAT in a minute. But before that, I have to tell you one thing so I can explain myself: it seems like I just drift into the background a lot. Even my job lately seems like a simple one. No one else can be a captain like Captain Archer; no one has the expertise and finesse and logic that T'Pol has; no one can run the engines or tinker with anything and get it to suddenly spring to life and work like Trip does; you don't want any armory officer besides Malcolm watching your back; there isn't a doctor in the span of the known universe with a broader knowledge of medicines and treatments than Phlox; and no one can pilot almost any ship there is like Travis. But then there's me. I'm the one kind of left in the dust.

Thanks to the Universal Translator, anyone can do what I do, and my skills don't seem to be needed. Oh, don't get me wrong... sometimes I love that brilliant little device. Without it during my studies, Klingon was an incomprehensible string of guttural gibberish. But now, when I'm much more experienced and skillful, and pretty capable without it, I might add, it makes me look like nothing more than a professional UT operator.

But no, that isn't what bugs me most. What bugs me is that I don't get noticed in... well... other ways. And you'd think I might, too, with a crew composed of mostly men. But not so. And it isn't even that I'm feeling like the ugly duckling or anything because the men notice all of the other women and not me. No. I believe this ship's ogling is completely centered on one woman, dominated by her if you will- or better yet, monopolized. Then again, it's not hard to notice her "finer attributes" in outfits as tight as hers. ...I don't understand it, though! She's so cold... and Vulcan... and... oh, I don't know why I'm jealous of T'Pol.... And of how she hogs all the attention....

I really don't understand myself. I'm fine being just the shy, sweet little ensign that sits by her UT and does her job, even if it doesn't always get noticed. I'm not one to want too much attention. And I'm not usually fond of ogling either, but you know what? I'd like a little once in awhile to remind me that I'm still pretty good-looking. ...I mean... wouldn't you?

Maybe what I did was a bit too unlike me, or maybe it just came from a part of me that I don't pay attention to, but... well... it was fun.

See, what happened was, I was thinking about this one late afternoon and wondering to myself why exactly it was on my mind all of a sudden. I decided not to let it bother me, so I went about my routine: brush up on the language of the day (YES, I pick languages of the day- I can't allow myself to get rusty in Andorian even IF we're a thousand lightyears away from them, now can I?), respond to letters from home, read a little if I have time, take a shower, then read a little more if I have time.

It wasn't until my routine was interrupted that I really got my idea.

Pretty late in the evening, my door chimed. I had just stepped out of the shower, so I called, "Just a minute!" while I began my search for something in my closet that would be decent to wear. After I had deemed my uniform too formal and my pajamas too embarrassing and my workout clothes too unusual, it hit me. If there ever was a way to get noticed, it was right then. So I fastened the towel as securely as I could and kept a tight hold of it just to be sure- I REALLY didn't need another event like the one in the ventilation system over Malcolm's quarters.

I hesitated a moment, at first because I wasn't so sure if I really wanted to do this. It's not something anyone would expect from me, and I was starting to think that going through with it would be pretty embarrassing. But for some reason, my embarrassment just went away as I started planning the whole thing out- at least up to answering the door. If it was a woman, I would just apologize and explain that I had just showered, play it off as innocently as I could if she even cared about such a thing. I silently hoped it would be Travis, so that maybe I could get him back for the Jell-O incident. After all, it was a good chance it was him, since I had lent him a book he said he wanted to read and he still needed to return it. If it was Captain Archer... well... I might have a little bit of explaining to do. But that didn't seem likely, I told myself, and tried not to let a telltale smile come across my face or a laugh escape me as I went to the door.

I composed myself as best I could, took tighter hold of the small bunch in the fluffy towel near my armpit, finding that I was beginning to really enjoy the devilish trick I was about to play, and opened the door.

I wasn't sure who blushed more at that moment- me, or the three men at my door.

Unfortunately, my thinking did not incorporate the possibility that not only could Travis show up, but also Malcolm and Trip, Malcolm standing closest to me and so, therefore, being the most red. His face was a mixed look of confusion, amazement, and embarrassment, and his eyes were fixed just far enough south that I knew immediately that my plan had worked... although maybe a bit too well, because the other two were still at my door along with him.

Behind Malcolm, Travis's eyes had gone wide with surprise and Trip was trying his hardest to look anywhere but where I stood. I managed to resist looking as uncomfortable as they were, and that was something to be proud of.

"We were just..." Trip began, trying to redeem himself and the other two.

"We just wanted to come to ask you... uh..." Travis said, apparently forgetting what they had come for.

"Movie night," Malcolm blurted, his eyes jumping to mine for a moment, having noticed that he had been staring, but then he turned a deeper shade of red and locked them on some item in my quarters and kept his gaze there.

"If you wanted to come to movie night," Travis tried to clear up, getting out at least that much.

"But it... kinda looks like ya wanna stay here..." Trip said, obviously trying to justify leaving right away, which I could see they were all preparing to do.

"Yeah- goodnight, Hoshi," Travis told her nervously, stepping away.

"G'night, Hoshi," Trip repeated, and did the same.

"G- um," Malcolm said, prying his eyes away from wherever he had been staring off at for awhile, and looked at my eyes, then at the floor, the blush coming back into his cheeks when he must have looked at me a little on his way to looking at his feet. He cleared his throat and somehow blended into the end of it a "Goodnight," before taking off as quickly as he could walk.

Well.... I guess it turned out I didn't need to say anything.

So that was yesterday.

At first I was pretty embarrassed and didn't want to face any of them today, but then that impish impulse took over me again and told me to face this morning as "See-if-My-Plan-Worked-Better-Than-I-Thought Day." ...I think I'm starting to like Evil Hoshi.

Of course the first person I run into is Trip- almost literally- coming out of the mess hall just as I'm about to go in. Thankfully, he smiles and chuckles. "At least THIS time you're fully dressed," he says, playing off yesterday as if it barely fazed him.

I smile back, liking that he, as my senior officer, is not going to hold it against me, and that he won't be avoiding me. "I think once is enough," I tell him.

He shakes his head in amusement. "Next time we'll give ya a heads-up b'fore we just show up at yer door."

"Thanks," I tell him, allowing him to believe that it was all an accident, when, in truth, only part of it was.

So then, finding that neither of us really minds about letting it at that, he leaves with a wave, saying, "See ya on the bridge."

I stand there for a moment, waiting to see if he will turn back, but he doesn't. Oh well, I think. He always had a thing for T'Pol anyway. ...Besides- rumor has it they're a couple. Hell, there're even bets going! I, for one, think it's obvious. So I'm pretty sure I would have actually gotten angry if he turned around to look back at me.

So I walk into the mess hall and get my usual scrambled eggs and toast, usual as in what I grab when I don't care to or am in too much of a hurry to look at what else is laid out. I look around the room and see Travis at a table with Malcolm, who is sitting with his back turned to me.

I approach them, and Travis, who looks up as I get almost close enough to tap Malcolm on the shoulder, says, "Oh- hey Hoshi!" which makes Malcolm choke on his coffee.

"Hi, guys," I say, and as Malcolm tries to stifle his coughing with a napkin, I add, "Is it alright if I sit here?"

"Sure," Travis says, and gestures toward a chair.

I sit through breakfast, at times catching Malcolm's eyes drifting over to me, which sometimes means that he forgets to carry through with taking a bite of his toast, and it just hovers there in front of his open mouth for a moment or two until he remembers what he's doing. And I notice that the usually talkative Travis only every once in awhile brings up something brief about the movie they watched last night, most of the time staying silent and letting his eyes fall just over my shoulder. I'm pretty sure that means my mission has been accomplished. ...I'm also pretty sure that that's the end of Evil Hoshi. But when neither of them looked up at T'Pol when she left the mess hall, a smile couldn't help but come across my lips.

Yeah- guys notice.

You like? Well, then tell me. It's been awhile since I posted anything, I need reviews.

Oh, and here's me plugging my site, Randomness At Its Worst:

Go there! It's random, weird, and it's got stories and rants and Enterprise and anime and lots more! (Unfortunately, as it is run by me, it updates rarely, it's PG-13, and the main picture is of my brother flipping off... well, everyone.) You will enjoy!


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